When we look back on previous generations, we often associate them with the fads, fashions and technologies that accompanied them. Take Generation X for example, as adolescents we spent Friday nights at the roller rink, listened to .38 Special and the closest thing we had to reality TV was the News. A few years later while Gen X matured and the roller rinks were closing down… something else was happening. Without warning, like in a science fiction movie, dangerous alien forms of plastic had invaded our culture, taken control of our practicality and systematically began snatching away our financial stability. Fighting for supremacy, living in codependency and feeding off one another for survival, Generation X and the Credit Card Revolution had taken flight.

I often think back to when I was a child and how my father, a blue collared civil servant, would go about making purchases. He had a system. It was a common practice used by the Baby boomers and every generation before them. Now-a-days, to the MTV Generation, this method of obtaining goods and services is just something they touched on in school, primitive backwards thinking and the kind of thing you would only Read the rest of this post »

Back in 1970 the silver screen was army green and we sat full attention while our favorite megalomaniacal warrior general, George S. Patton Jr. walked up those steps, out onto the stage in front of the American flag (that filled the entire screen), addressed his troops and gave his unforgettable unapologetic opening speech.

“…now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country… we will cut out their living guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks“.

Meanwhile, as General Patton pushed his troops to the edge of Nazi lines, Major Franks Burns was making the most of the Korean War by banging the Head Nurse,Major “Hot Lips” Houlihan in her barracks. Now unfortunately for them and what Major Burns and Hot Lips didn’t realize was that while they were heavily engaged in friendly fire, they were unintentionally broadcasting every grunt and groan of their sexual escapade over the PA system providing quality entertainment for the entire 4077th and movie goers alike.

By 1971 the box office battles had abandoned the fields and moved to the streets of San Francisco where Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan and his trademark .44 Magnum were tracking Scorpio the manic serial killer…

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I’ve kind of lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel licky?’ Well do ya, punk?”

While politicians on Capital Hill take group photo’s, play electoral games and contemplate their proposed bail out of our plagued financial system, the stock market continues to grind lower. The rescue plan would involve the U.S. government spending $700 billion on questionable assets from the growing number of distressed financial institutions – nationalizing the money losing part of the financial sector. As President Bush try’s to bully Congress into “rising to the occasion” and approving the legislaton, leading lawmakers resume difficult negotiations that will be debated for years to come whether the bail out plan gets approval or not.

Let the reality check record show that neither portfolio managers, economists or government leaders know for certain if the stimulus plan under consideration will help stop the bleeding or even stabilize markets at all.

What we do know..? The subprime mortgage crisis, credit crunch and weakening dollar have crippled capital markets sending financial giants crashing to their knees and pushing our economy to the brink of collapse. Making matters worse, the housing market continues to plummet, there’s no credit for anyone with anything less than perfect credit history and the consumer is dying. People on fixed incomes, who thought they were on cruise control, are now feeling the inflationary wrath of raging fuel, food and healthcare costs.

Bail Out Plan or no Bail Out Plan – the economy is in horrific shape and about to get worse… a lot worse. As the current economic downturn gains momentum and we drift deeper into recession, it’s time to start thinking defensively about protecting your assets. Americans could soon Read the rest of this post »

Our economy is in deep shit and like it or not – you’re sitting smack dab in the middle it. Lots of people are asking the same questions: “How the hell did we end up like this?”, “Isn’t this just a Wall Street problem?” and “could this recession really effect me? – If so, how bad could things get?” To fully understand why the U.S. economy is in such bad shape and getting worse, one of the things you need to do, is get a firm grip on understanding the Subprime Mortgage Crisis…

The prudent man’s rule when calculating how much one can afford to pay for a home without getting in over your head is typically no more than 3-4x your annual income.

In 2005 (the peak of the United States housing bubble) the economy was booming, jobs were plentiful, consumers were spending and the real estate market was unstoppable. However, irresponsibly unnoticed the median home price had become six to nine times greater than median income.That was the sign banks chose to ignore.Despite this dislocation, lenders were tripping over themselves to make loans based on the unrealistic misconstrued concept that property values would always continue to soar.

Competition became so fierce among lenders they began seducing the unfortunates, people with bad debt, low paying jobs and sketchy credit histories.Based on their less than adequate financials, this subprime underclass that had no business even buying property, had become mortgagors.Both the lender and the buyer knew they couldn’t really afford that dream home – but what the hell, those Read the rest of this post »

Was there anything better then rolling out of bed, pouring yourself a bowl of Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries and plopping down in front of the TV in your pajamas to enjoy your favorite Saturday morning line up?

1970– In the early days we were entranced by the slap stick off-the-wall shenanigans of Bugs Bunny, Tweety, Sylvester, Heckle & Jeckle, and Woody Woodpecker. And who could forget that pathetically mischievous, yet ingenious, Wile E. Coyote and how his dastardly plans to capture the Road Runner were consistently foiled by those faulty ACME rockets or simply out-witted by the Road Runner himself (which usually ended up with an explosion and trademark puff of smoke).

1975– Kung Foo Fighting was at the top of the charts, Saturday Night Live premiered with George Carlin as the host, Bill Gates & Paul Allen were Read the rest of this post »